Means 27 million employees will get an average tax cut of £900 a year. Yeah well also in the budget today, the non dom tax status will be scrapped , with tax will be scrapped, with tax breaks for wealthy Foreign Residents replaced by what the chancellor called a modern residency system. Also in the residency system. Also in the budget. Rounding out todays announcements, pubs will get a boost from a freeze on alcohol duty and child benefit threshold , going up from 60 up to £60,000, and the £0. 05 cut to fuel duty is locked in for another 12 months. Also, the vat registration threshold goes up to £90,000 from 85, while the pensions regulator will get new powers, ensuring people with defined contributions are getting value from their investments. And theres a new investments. And theres a new isa scheme with a £5,000 yearly allowance for british assets, as well as one more point for you it systems in the nhs getting a £3. 5 it systems in the nhs getting a £35 million upgrade. Well, in £3. 5 million upgrade. Well, in other news today, the science secretary is facing calls to quit after taxpayers covered her £15,000 bill in damages and legal fees following her false accusations that she made about an academic michelle donelan, who has now retracted her comments, accused professor kate sang of supporting the terrorist group hamas. However, an investigation found the claims were baseless. Labour says miss donelans false accusation are a new low in government standards. New low in government standards. And lastly, in the united states, where nikki haley has ended her long shot challenge against donald trump to become the republican candidate for president , the former governor of South Carolina dropped out today just a day after super tuesday with donald trump beating her in 14 out of 15 contests. In her speech earlier on today, she declined to endorse donald trump, but did wish him well in what looks to be a rematch with Democrat Joe Biden in novembers us elections. For the very latest stories, do sign up for gb news alerts by scanning the qr code that comes up on your screen now and again. Its not there right now, but it will pop up at some point. Or you can go to gb news dot com slash alerts. But now its live to cumbria for farage. Well a name. Yes im here in cumbria. Im in whitehaven , following on from in whitehaven, following on from michelle dewberry. Weve got a big live energetx enthusiastic audience. Well, theyre enthusiastic about being at a gb news show as to whether theyre enthusiastic about the budget. Well, that remains to be seen. Now, this was supposed to be a really big moment for this government. Perhaps even if its accepted by the public very well, a precursor to a general election. That could happen, according to some, as early as may the 2nd. So at 1230 up got the chancellor of the exchequer his opening sentence. I simply could not believe. Here it is as we mourn the tragic loss of life in israel and gaza. The Prime Minister reminded us last week of the need to fight extremism and heal divisions. So i start today by remembering the muslims who died in two world wars in the service of freedom and democracy. We need a memorial to honour them. So, following representations from the right hon. Member for bromsgrove and others, i have decided to allocate £1 million towards the cost of building one. Whatever your faith or colour or class, this country will never forget the sacrifices shes made for our future. Shes made for our future. Well, here is my response. I went to the local cemetery here in whitehaven, where there are nearly 80 people buried who died in two world wars. Pilots, people washed up on the shores here in cumbria, others whod come back from the front and died of wounds. Here is my response to what he had to say over 100 years ago. We had men of more brain and foresight than our chancellor. They decided at the end of the first world war, and we continued it throughout world war ii as well, that everybody, regardless of race or rank religion, be rank or religion, would be buned rank or religion, would be buried beneath the same headstone. The principle was equality in death, recognising the contribution of all. And indeed, if you go to a big commonwealth war Graves Cemetery in france or elsewhere, what youll see is a stone of remembrance that says, for those of all faiths and none, we thought about this over a hundred years ago, we do not need jeremy hunt putting forward the idea of a memorial to a specific religion. It is just specific religion. It is just plain wrong. I feel very plain wrong. I feel very strongly about this. I really, really do. I really, really do. It is sajid javid that was pushing for this memorial, but it shows a total lack of understanding of really how brilliant our leaders were 100 years ago, recognising everybody we were to be unified in death and equal in death. Whether you and equal in death. Whether you want a victoria cross, didnt matter, didnt matter who you were, what you were, you you had exactly the same headstone. But it says so much, i think, about modern day politics. We try to pander to each individual group rather than saying everybody in our country should be equal. Now moving on. Of course, this was the great tax cutting budget. Yes. Tuppence more off National Insurance. And im going to drill down in a moment with Mark Littlewood as to whether people really are paying less tax. But moving on, one of the big statements of the budget was that after all these years, the government is going to sell its stake, its remaining stake, nearly 38 in National Westminster bank. Now its fair to say that i have some degree of interest in this subject. And of interest in this subject. And we own we still own about 7 billion quids worth of natwest shares. And the idea is the government sells these shares. Retail investors, such as people in this room , will buy the in this room, will buy the shares at a discounted price. Shares at a discounted price. But i have a problem with that. And i do put out a tweet shortly afterwards saying until the Natwest Group provides full disclosure and apologises for their behaviour and their cover ups, why should any retail Customer Trust them . So mr hunt, if you want to get about £7 billion back for the treasury to help you balance the books, you better make sure that natwest , better make sure that natwest, which you at the moment are the major shareholder, in honour their obligations to me. Stop their obligations to me. Stop the cover up , stop the lies, the cover up, stop the lies, start telling the truth because ill tell you what, if they think theyre going to go ahead with this share sale and im going to sit on the sidelines and say nothing until the wrongs have been righted. You know what . I quite like a fight. Have been righted. You know what . I quite like a fight. And what . I quite like a fight. And what i did notice was that this was an extraordinarily political budget , to be fair, to hunt. He budget, to be fair, to hunt. He delivered it pretty well. And he did make 1 or 2 quite funny jokes, especially at the expense of angela rayner, over those that own second properties. That really was genuinely quite funny , but political in the sense that what were the constituencies that he named in the budget . Bromsgrove, stoke on trent , dudley, the budget . Bromsgrove, stoke on trent, dudley, north witham, loughborough south and west rother valley , vale of clwyd and rother valley, vale of clwyd and austell and newquay, north devon. I austell and newquay, north devon. I could go on. He mentioned 19 constituencies that would benefit from this budget. Would benefit from this budget. And guess what . Every single one of them are seats held by conservatives where they worry they might lose the seats at the next general election. So it was an overtly political budget, but he also made a statement that i thought was really, really interesting, and it was about immigration and it was about wages and Gross Domestic Product. Listen in. If we want that growth to lead to higher wages and higher Living Standards for every family in every corner of the country, it cannot come from unlimited migration. It can only come by building a high wage, high skill economy , not just high skill economy, not just higher gdp, but higher gdp per head. And that and that from the chancellor of a conservative party that have overseen record levels of Legal Immigration into britain and where Gross Domestic Product per head is falling, we are getting poorer now. The arguments he made are the arguments he made are the arguments that ive made publicly for many, many years. And that perhaps is my biggest problem with this budget. In fact, my biggest problem with the last 14 years of these people, they pretend to be one thing when actually they are quite another. Theyre whether quite another. Theyre whether tuppence of National Insurance, whether making statements like thatis whether making statements like that is enough to have suddenly a surge in the polls for the conservative party. And a bold step to a 2nd of may general election. I dont know. But election. I dont know. But folks, ive got to tell you somehow i really rather doubt it. Now to the main claim in the budget, there was one really extra ordinary statement. And dont forget £0. 02 was taken off last october, didnt give them much electoral benefit, so they have reduced the level of National Insurance. Theyve National Insurance. Theyve hinted they might get rid of National Insurance and make it cleaner and simpler that you pay through income tax. But this statement was the biggest claim of the budget, hunt said. The of the budget, hunt said. The personal taxes paid by a median earner as a proportion of their income in 20 2425 are the lowest theyve been since 1975. Now, that is, i would put it to you. Mark littlewood, director of popcorn and former director of the institute of economic affairs. That is a very big, bold statement that is saying anybody in this room that is earning, you know, an average mean salary is paying less tax than anyone for nearly 50 years. Wow. They must be doing rather well. Well, jeremy hunt seems to think so. Heres the problem, though, nigel, as youll know well, if youre listening to an economist or a politician, always read the fine print and its the important fine print. In what jeremy hunt said, i believe hes technically correct. He mentions personal taxes, so hes measuring your National Insurance and your income tax contributions. And if youre an contributions. And if youre an average earner, given everything hes done, that might be down a bit. But thats not what the average earner thinks about. They think about their overall take pay. So dont know take home pay. So i dont know if smoke youll be if you smoke tobacco, youll be paying if you smoke tobacco, youll be paying more in tax paying a lot more in tax in a different fashion. If your council tax is going up, youre paying council tax is going up, youre paying a lot more in tax in a different fashion. I wouldnt think most people this think most people in this room, nigel, care specifically about what taxes are. What their personal taxes are. They about their overall they care about their overall tax and fact there is tax bill and the fact there is unfortunately, i have to confess, after 14 years of conservative government, its at its highest since the 1940s. And i think it will be pretty, not much succour to people in this room and in other constituencies like it to be told on a technicality their personal taxes are down when the overall taxes are down when the overall tax burden is up. And thats the fact of the matter. Yeah. And he sold this idea that were not going to have the fuel duty escalator put on that. Were not going to have increased alcohol taxes as somehow youre all better off. But all he was really doing was not putting taxes up. Yes, exactly. Thats that unfortunately, is what governments now pat themselves on back for. You know, great on the back for. You know, great news. Taxes gone news. Your taxes havent gone up. A good up. But i think theres a good number people in this room number of people in this room and elsewhere who want and elsewhere who actually want to taxes go down. And to see their taxes go down. And this is also in the context, remember, nigel, where the economy look, if economy is flatlining. Look, if we all getting richer, we were all getting richer, i dont know, five, 6 a year seeing our wages go up every year pnces seeing our wages go up every year prices in the year, seeing prices fall in the shops. At that point, you shops. Well, at that point, you might not struggle too much if your bill is another £100. Your tax bill is another £100. But because there hasnt been growth economy, people growth in the economy, people are , really feeling that are really, really feeling that pinch. So weve become weve drifted into becoming a high tax high spend heavily regulated social democratic economy. After 14 years of conservative government. Thats quite a disappointment. Government. Thats quite a disappointment. And i dont disappointment. And i dont think he did enough today to u turn from that. And that said, by Mark Littlewood, a member of the conservative party exactly. Oh, deah conservative party exactly. Oh, dear. They really are in trouble, arent they . Dear. They really are in trotwell,irent they . Dear. They really are in trotwell, butt they . Dear. They really are in trotwell, but i they . Dear. They really are in trotwell, but i mean, look, well, but i mean, look, i mean, here we are. They are. I mean, here we are. They are. I mean, were in the red wall. Weve taken some straw polls of this audience. I think, you know, this a day late and know, this may be a day late and a dollar short. You know, i do read the opinion polls. The conservative party is not popular at all. Is there a road back . I popular at all. Is there a road back . I dont know, but the only road back is that you need to be honest with people, and you need to to get government off to start to get government off their back and need to their back. And you need to start the right thing by start doing the right thing by ordinary, working brits. Start doing the right thing by ordirits, working brits. Start doing the right thing by ordirits difficult rking brits. Start doing the right thing by ordirits difficult toing brits. Start doing the right thing by ordirits difficult to discern ;. And its difficult to discern that thread running through government policy over recent years. Mark littlewood, thank you very much indeed. In a moment well get a reaction. Well see what sir keir had to say and well get a reaction from a labour mp. Okay. A minor change of plan. Okay. A minor change of plan. Were actually going to go to the local member of parliament first. Trudy harrison mp was elected here in copeland in a by election back in 2017. And it was a pretty big national by election. She held the seat in the 17 election and increased her majority again in 2019 general election. So theres been a conservative member of Parliament Sitting for this constituency for the last three elections and that of itself is actually pretty remarkable because this part of cumbria had been represented by labour since way before world war two. And trudy joins me right now in front of her constituents here in copeland. Now, thus far , thus in copeland. Now, thus far, thus far, weve talked about the budget. Weve talked about the proposals put forward by jeremy hunt. Thus this lot dont hunt. Thus far. This lot dont seem be all that impressed, seem to be all that impressed, how would you assess todays budget, i got the memo. Sticking budget, i got the memo. Sticking to the plan. Dont want to go back to square one. Yes, weve ticked many of the boxes. Growth ticked many of the boxes. Growth is up slightly better than germany. Better than france, better than italy. I thought we were in recession , but its still up and recession, but its still up and inflation is down. I mean, youre right, youre right. Actually, in one way, youre right. We are doing better than france and germany and italy, and brexit clearly hasnt damaged us. But but being better than those basket cases isnt that good of itself, is it really. And there is more to do. But i think in this particular neck of the woods we are quite unique. For example, are quite unique. For example, the National Average wage is 31,000. Here its 49,000. And we are in a particularly Strong Nuclear economy, which really holds us in a strong place. So the best bit for me is when rishi mentioned nuclear, because thatis rishi mentioned nuclear, because that is what we. Absolutely. And that was one of the reasons, trudy, wasnt it . One of the reasons that you stood for that by election . Absolutely. You got involved with politics. Absolutely. You got involved witibutlitics. Absolutely. You got involved witibut obviously windscale, as absolutely. You got involved wiwast obviously windscale, as absolutely. You got involved wiwas sellafield windscale, as absolutely. You got involved wiwas sellafield asindscale, as absolutely. You got involved wiwas sellafield as itdscale, as absolutely. You got involved wiwas sellafield as it is ale, as absolutely. You got involved wiwas sellafield as it is now. As it was sellafield as it is now. Just how many jobs does that provide for part of the country . About 27,000. Theres about 80,000 nuclear in the 80,000 Nuclear Workers in the country. Those country. And of those about 27,000 area. 27,000 work in this area. Nobodys does nuclear better than we do in west cumbria. Weve got seven reactors. Nowhere else is there that concentration of reactors and all of the processes around, not just sellafield, but also the supply chain as well. And thats why we have such a high average wage. But coupled with the fact that we also have relatively affordable houses, the average house price is about 310,000. Ours is about 155,000. Its a good place to live. Yeah, well, you could get a flood of people now moving in after those comments and you might not be thankful. I dont know, because the worst thing for our area is actually we are the fastest decline in population in england, declining a rate of england, declining at a rate of about 5. And even more scarily is the fact that barrow is the second fastest decline in local authority in cumbria. Authority in cumbr